Goodness in the World
by Angel of Neptune
Summary: [XMenRENT crossover] Falling victim to a mutant hate crime, Artie gets taken in by a stranger and realizes not everyone is as closeminded about the mutant race.


**Title: **Goodness in the World  
**Author:** Angel of Neptune  
**Feedback:** Please and thank you. )  
**Pairing: **N/A  
**Word Count: **2,200  
**Rating: **PG  
**Genre: **General  
**Summary: **Falling victim to a mutant hate crime, Artie gets taken in by a stranger and realizes not everyone is as close-minded about the mutant race.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own X-Men or RENT.

"Mutie scum," a harsh voice sneered. "Hope you learned you're fucking lesson!"

"Should have cleaned the damned gene pool and have gotten rid of him, Frankie!" the second voice remarked. "Who in their right mind would care if there's one less fucking mutant in the world – we'd be makin' it a better place!"

The voice belonging to the first man paused momentarily as he silently debated this over to himself. "Come on, let's get out of here before the cops show up," he finally said.

Artie felt his heart skip a beat. Those two horrible men were finally leaving; they wouldn't be hurting him again. Good. He fluttered open his eyes slowly and, against his protesting body, climbed out of the dumpster he had been thrown into. The poor boy heard many awful stories about mutant hate crimes, be he had never expected he would be at all part of one – he didn't look like a mutant, nor did he exactly have an awesome power in his own opinion. He'd be the first to admit they were a bit ridiculous.

He couldn't walk through walls or teleport. Nor could he control the weather or literally punch holes in mountains with his eyes – he could have protected himself definitely with those types of powers for sure. No, instead he had a spork shaped serpent tongue and missing vocal cords – he could also project his emotions to the mind of others, which was pretty cool, he'll admit, but if given the choice, he would have wanted to be able to talk instead. He hated writing things down thought it was the primary way he communicated unless it was Rachel or Professor Xavier he was striking up a conversation with.

And Dr. Grey.

When she had been around, Artie had constantly talked with her because she would really listen. For a short while, Dr. Grey had made him feel more human even thought they had been talking via telepathy. Needless to say, he missed her very much. Communication with Professor Xavier was nowhere near the same, but talking to Rachel nearly gave him that feeling back. As the saying goes – like mother, like daughter, right?

Though the women had the same mutation, they did not have the same level of control. Even though Rachel had graduated nearly two years ago from Xavier's School of Gifted Childern, she still had much to learn. She didn't have the same grasp on her powers as Dr. Grey had, but that would only come with time and practice.

Artie leaned against the dumpster, shaking. It wasn't fair, he had always been careful, always – and that was nothing difficult at all. Basically, he just had to keep his mouth shut – people automatically assumed he was just a shy little eboy or even mute for that matter. He regretted wondering away from the group. Not only did they not realize he was missing, but all this happened too. The boy was trying to pinpoint where it all went wrong. Did he yawn without covering his mouth? Or coughed? Maybe sneezed? Must have, how would they have known otherwise? Maybe he accidentally projected his thoughts into their mind, everyone slipped once in a while and if he did, what and how much information did he give them?

The boy began to panic, began to worry and began to whimper, cry. He was beaten for being what he is, his body ached and no one knew where he was – he didn't really know where he was, he had just taken off running the moment those men started harassing him.

He slide down against the dumpster despite his boy's protest and wrapped his arms firmly around his knees. Artie couldn't reach the Professor or Rachel – nor did they have the use of Cerebro. The terrified little boy couldn't use the nearest pay phone either – he didn't have the money nor the vocal cords to properly operate them.

Things weren't going his way, today wasn't his day. He buried his face into his knees as his shoulders began to shake, he wanted nothing more than to be back with his schoolmates, his friends – his common mutants. They made him feel liked he belonged, especially Siyren – she must have noticed by now he was missing.

The young boy curle dup even tighter, now lost in his own thoughts. He should have been paying more attention to his surroundings. At some point during his whimpering and crying, he had been approached by a complete stranger. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Artie immediately jerked up, smacking the hand away from him out of self-defense. After all, the last person to have touched him nearly beat the living shit out of him.

"It's okay honey!" the new voice reassured.

At once, he felt a wave of relief wash over him, glad that it wasn't the two men from earlier – he thought maybe they would have changed their minds and return to "clean the gene pool." Calmed down a bit, the boy looked up towards the newcomer who didn't appear to be a thug, but looks could be deceiving, Artie knew that very well.

He carefully watched the new comer reach into her pocket and pull out a handkerchief. Artie scooted back before he could make another move.

"'M not gonna hurt you, sweetie," the person promised. "What's your name? I'm Angel."

Artie clamped his mouth shut, he wasn't going to risk exposing himself again. Instead of attempting to answer, he shook his head as Angel carefully began to wipe his cheek.

Angel frowned. No doubt the poor boy was downright scared. He had been mugged – the thought of that pissed her royally off. Who could do this to a defenseless child? She wanted to help him, but there wasn't much she could do if he wouldn't talk to her.

"Do you live around here?" she tried again.

Artie flinched, pulling away from the handkerchief. Once again, he shook his head, but reached for his pocket – only to discover the notepad he usually had had disappeared. He frowned. Somehow, he had to make a point he wasn't able to talk without revealing he was a mutant. After a moment, he pointed to his throat and shook his head. Receiving a slightly confused look, Artie mentally cursed himself for not learning sign language. He tried again – this time flapping his hands at each other and then pointed at himself, shaking his head.

"Can't talk, honey?"

He shook his head. No, he couldn't. He couldn't talk and he finally got that point across.

"You hurting?" Obviously the poor little boy was hurting and she couldn't just leave him here either. "Here, come on… Let me clean you up, sweetie," she offered, gently taking his hand and carefully pulling him onto his feet.

**XXX**

"All the students were present this afternoon," Scott said. "Counted and recounted, everyone was _there_."

"Dad, that doesn't change the fact that Artie is missing now," Rachel immediately replied. Needless to say, the young woman was rather worried – if Artie was lost, he'd have a hard time getting back to the mansion alone and that's why they were wandering the streets o the city now – hoping they would find him soon. "I can't sense him and Xavier's till trying to trace him with Cerebro." Which she knew would be rather difficult if Artie wasn't using his mutant powers.

"Taking the Professor a bit of a while," he commented – he, just like his daughter, was as worried for his student. Artie was a kid, he shouldn't be out here alone. Scott didn't want to imagine what could possibly happen to him.

Rachel fiddled with the strap of her purse as they continued to walk at a brisk pace. "Of course – if the Professor concentrates too hard, he could kill Artie. Cerebro's a very powerful piece of equipment."

"Rache, I know," the field leader replied. "Just can't believe we didn't notice sooner… Rache?"

Noticing his daughter had stopped walking, Scott turned around to face her. After starting off into space, Rachel blinked and stared at her father. "I know where Artie is."

**XXX**

The boy never felt gladder to be clean and safe, or as safe as he could be with this stranger. Angel did seem nice enough though, but… what if she found out what he really was? Would she be nice then? He bit down on his lip, scooting his chair closer to the table as he tapped the tip of his pencil against the piece of paper she had given him.

"Feeling better, sweetie?" Angel asked, returning to the table with two mugs of hot chocolate. He nodded taking one of the mugs. "So… what's your name, huh?" she asked, hoping she could now communicate a bit with the boy. He quickly wrote down his name for her to read.

"Artie," she read. "What ya doing out alone, Artie?" she asked. Once again, he scribbled on the piece of paper to answer.

Angel frowned. "Separated from your friends?" she asked. "Where are they now?"

'_Back home,_' he wrote. '_At the Xavier mansion… we're mutants._' Artie momentarily debated writing down the last part, but now he would know if she'd accept him for what he is or not. Personally, he didn't want to be back on the streets alone.

"Mutant, huh?" she smiled slightly. "Is that why ou can't talk? Because of your mutation?"

He nodded, turning back to his piece of paper. '_No vocal cords – can't talk,'_ he wrote. '_Have a snake tongue and can.. show my emotions to others with my mind.'_ Once she had read, she looked up towards him. Artie stuck out his tongue. Angel chuckled lightly, causing the boy to grin. She paused and looked at him.

"You feel relieved, Artie?"

Again, Artie nodded at Angel and began to write. '_Thought you wouldn't like me cuz I'm a mutant. Lots of people don't.'_ He scooted the paper towards Angel.

"'M not like lots of people," she replied, shaking her head. "Nothing wrong with being different – I'm different."

'_You're a mutant too?_'

She knew he was feeling hopeful which made it harder to answer him. Smiling grimly, Angel shook her head again. "Not that I know of, sweetie." 

At that, Artie couldn't help but frown slightly. Had Angel been a mutant of some sort than she would probably would have understood everything they were going through. Little did he know that Angel knew clearly what the young boy was going through – the prejudice and all.

"Are you hungry, honey?" Angel asked. "I can probably put something together really quick," she offered, but Artie shook his head in reponse.

'_Friends coming soon,'_ he scribbled away. '_Miss Rachel Grey and Mr. Scott Summers – part of the X-Men. They're pretty cool.'_

Angel smiled. "Real life super heros, I bet they are."

Artie vigorously nodded. '_Mr. Summers shoot beams from his eyes and Rachel can read minds – and knows T.K. She's gonna speak on the behalf of mutant rights too,'_ he explained. '_Doesn't want her mother's work to go to waste.'_

"Dr. Jean Grey was a remarkable woman – great fashion sense too," she commented. "Glad someone's decided to pick up where she left off – such a tragic event."

'_Yeah, I really liked Dr. Grey – she'd talk to me a lot. Rachel's been really busy and everything.'_

Hearing the knock come from the apartment door, Angel stopped reading the boy's sentence and went to answer. Though she knew Artie had informed her his friends were on their way, she still checked. "Who is it?"

'_Mr. Schunard – Ms. Schunard,'_ the new voice in her head corrected. '_Rachel Grey and Scott Summers from the Xavier Institute.'_

"Right," Angel murmured to herself as she unlocked the door. Immediately, a red head ran by her and to Artie. Rachel carefully wrapped her arms around the little boy. Scott took a step inside and held his hand out to her.

"Scott Summers," he said. "Thank you for keeping Artie safe."

"Angel," she said, taking his hand. "And no problem – he's a sweet little boy."

Rachel frowned, looking over the younger student's fresh cuts and bruises. "Mutant hate crimes," she said with a frustrated sigh, leading the boy to the two at the door. "When will they _learn_ we're just the same as everyone else?"

"People fear different and they fear change," Angel replied softly. "World needs more open minded people like your mother – amazing woman who was on the right rack."

Rachel nodded. "Well, her work isn't going unfinished," she answered with a faint smile. "May take me a while, but I'm gonna continue it." Scott placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder and gave it a tiny squeeze.

"Then I definitely wish you luck."

"Thanks again," Scott said with a nod, leading Artie into the hall. Rachel flashed Angel a grin and followed after.

'_Not everyone hates us,'_ Artie looked up at Rachel as he climbed into the car.

Buckling up in the front passenger seat, Rachel looked back at him through the rearview mirror. '_Nope, there's hope for us yet.'_

**End**


End file.
